I agree with all of this especially the last sentence
Touching on the comment about how Elphaba and Glinda are seen in the movieāthe point of Wicked is that Elphaba is not a great person. She almost kills a lot of kids, she does murder Fiyeroās child, and sheās a horrible mother, among other things. However, when the Wizard and Co start calling her āwicked witch of the westā and other terms, it really is trying to show a man in power, as well as a country full of people who seem to see in 2d, much as our own, finding a girl who does some things wrong and making her the embodiment of evil.
In the Wicked universe, Elphaba is not great, but neither is Glinda. Not just Glinda, but so many other characters are not good, but theyre not evil. Theyāre people trying to survive in a world full of segregation of color, race, and religion.
I think something to touch on is that throughout the series we go through some really shitty leaders. The Wizard of Oz, anyone whoās familiar knows. But we see Nessarose cursing her citizens and more for power and her so desired love that she never really gets; Shell Thropp naming himself essentially Oz Jesus and then using that position to persecute; Mumby rallying the Munchkins in a display of freedom and then torturing innocent characters, the list continues. But the good leader we finally see?
The leader who everyone agrees is truly good is Ozma. However, instead of having these other charactersā drives, sheās pretty traumatized. Sheās just been told sheās a princess after living as a young boy for decades, so sheās probably struggling with her gender identity, losing the girl she loved (but was that just as a boy?), and now dealing with the fact that everyone thinks sheās the messiah. Helping to lead is Brrr, the Cowardly Lion, yet another character with a title forced on him. Heās characterized as a fleeing, worthless coward (and I will fight the next movie fan to hate on him) but really heās just sad. He faced his own persecution and was an outcast from everyone for being different, because his own family was killed, and then his human wife kills herself. The good leaders are the ones who have faced the persecution so common in Oz, and are not perfect from it, but are trying to learn from people like Elphabaās mistakes. And I think that is the true character message.
However i will absolutely read as much fluffy and ridiculous fanfiction as i like
please fic writers make more wicked!book fics thereās like 20
